Good place to stay: great staff

We found Hanu Reddy Residencies to be a good, welcoming place to stay on our arrival in Chennai. The staff had arranged our airport taxi pickup as requested, and had efficiently communicated with us by email beforehand. They were extremely helpful during our two-night stay. I was particularly grateful to the kitchen staff because they prepared simple meals for me when I was unwell on arrival. This was a shame as the restaurant food was a good standard: my husband was very happy with it! It was good to have a kettle in the room to make tea but probably best to use bottled or purified water for tea making. Tap water came out a rusty colour.

There are two separate buildings in which you can stay at the HR Residencies and we were in the one without the restaurant. The two buildings are only a very short walk apart, however, and this isn’t a problem. Our room had lots of space, with a small area for baggage between the room and the bathroom. There are trees and a small garden around both buildings, which give them a more restful feel than the street outside. The street is currently a cul-de-sac which made it quieter, but there is a lot of building going on in the area during the day.

Our building had a roof terrace, but I didn’t visit.

The Residencies are within short auto-rickshaw drive of the Government Museum, but quite a way from the beach and other sites and auto rickshaw drivers don’t seem keen to take you a long way into the city, or simply try to drop you in the wrong place if they can get away with it.

We were surprised to find that we could change money in the nearby Apollo Hospital foyer which worked efficiently and was within easy walking distance.

There were a few downsides which honestly didn’t bother us too much. Our room and the hall in our building were a little shabby and could so with some paint and upgrading. But everything was clean and the beds comfortable. The AC and fan worked, as did the Wifi. Our shower room was very open to mosquitoes at night, so we needed to remember to close the door. Note for the elderly! The tiled floors were lethal when wet after a shower, but we found this all over India and isn’t a particular fault of this hotel.